Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (Drew) seeks endowment funding to strengthen institutional research and education instruction by enhancing capacity and infrastructure for the newly developed Medical Sciences Institute (MSI). The broad objective of the proposed initiative is to close the gap between the burden of illness and premature mortality experienced more commonly by racial and ethnic minorities, as well as other medically-underserved populations, as compared to the nation as a whole. The proposed endowment portfolio will be managed through Drew's collaboration with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) providing an established foundation of effective and sophisticated portfolio management consistent with the highest level of standards in the nation. Managed through the UCLA Endowment Foundation, the endowment portfolio will be allocated among a number of asset classes that may include domestic equity, domestic fixed income, international equity, international fixed income, private equity, venture capital and cash to ensure the proper level of diversification and the fiscal solvency necessary for creating a self-sustaining program. The Specific Aims follow: Specific Aim 1: To enhance capacity and infrastructure for the newly-developed Drew Medical Sciences Institute; Specific Aim 2: To take the first step toward an institutional-level tenured track system by establishing endowed chairs and endowed professorships as a strategy for retaining and recruiting high quality research faculty; Specific Aim 3: To increase the number of nationally-recognized independent biomedical, clinical, and biobehavioral researchers-particularly those underrepresented in the sciences- interested in health disparities research; and Specific Aim 4: To provide effective and sophisticated endowment portfolio management in collaboration with the University of California, Los Angeles to achieve a total annualized rate of return 5% greater than the rate of inflation (net of fees), ensuring fiscal solvency and a self sustaining program.